Provisional duties levied on Chinese, S Korean steel

By Kevin Chen / Staff reporter

The government has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on some cold-rolled stainless steel products from China and South Korea, starting tomorrow, after initial investigations found they were sold at less than a fair price.

Provisional duties will range from 20.52 percent to 46.02 percent for a period of four months, the Ministry of Finance said on its Web site.

Provisional or countervailing duties are being charged because the suspected dumping practices are under ongoing investigation.

The definitive duties will be adjusted pending further probes, the ministry said.

“The preliminary probes by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs into alleged anti-dumping practices by Chinese and South Korean companies found that they had a substantial impact on the local steel industry,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

The finance ministry said it would finalize its investigation within the next 60 days and then it would send its conclusions to the economics ministry for further consideration.

The economics ministry should — within 40 days of receiving the notice from the finance ministry — give its final decision and then submit the case to the Tariff Commission for a final ruling on the anti-dumping duties on those imports.

In April, the economics ministry’s International Trade Commission (ITC) said the cheap imports had affected market competition in Taiwan.

At the time, the commission said the Chinese and South Korean exporters had increased their market share from 38 percent in 2009 to 70.7 percent last year among the total imports of these products, with volume expanding to 96,925 tonnes from 28,566 tonnes during the period.

Based on the ministry’s statement, the government will place provisional anti-dumping duties of 20.52 percent on Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co (山西太鋼不銹鋼) and Tianjin TISCO & TPCO Stainless Steel Co (天津太鋼天管不銹鋼) from China and 27.26 percent on Pohang Iron and Steel Co of South Korea, among others.

The preliminary duties were imposed in response to a complaint filed by Taiwan’s Yieh United Steel Corp (燁聯) and Tang Eng Iron Works Corp (唐榮).